The trade turnover between the two countries wend down “amid lower trade within the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Customs Union,” says State Secretary of the Union State Grigory Rapota

MINSK, April 01. /ITAR-TASS/. Some slump in bilateral trade has taken shape in the Union State of Russia and Belarus in 2013, State Secretary of the Union State Grigory Rapota told reporters in the Belarusian capital on Tuesday. If Russian-Belarusian trade stood at about $45 billion in 2012, it went down to $40 billion in 2013, the state secretary said. In his words, this took place “amid lower trade within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Customs Union (the Customs Union brings together Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan).”

The Union State needs talks on industrial policy of the two countries and closer industrial cooperation, Rapota believes. “Talks on industrial policy are a very serious issue. We are seeking to find a systemic solution in some events,” he noted. “The most important task is to develop a unified transport policy,” he noted. Meanwhile, “there is still much work in store for us in industrial cooperation,” Rapota noted.

“Social sphere is one of mostly developed fields” in the Union State, the state secretary said, adding that “in this regard, the Union State has advanced much further as compared with other integration structures."